Those who are ill-informed of the facts should be careful about abusing
Margaret Thatcher

SIR – If someone had lived through the entire length of the Thatcher years as an adult, and had a quite different view from my own as to what had been done and why, that might be the basis for a debate.

What is irritating is that 70 per cent of those running through the streets and the internet screeching their bile were not even born by the Winter of Discontent.

What is even more irritating is that they are plainly being educated or still at college, which means that I have to delve deep into my bawbees to pay to teach brains that are plainly ineducable.

Would they not be better attempting to do a hand’s turn of work, or does that go against hard-Left principles?

Frederick Forsyth Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

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SIR – I feel that a more balanced memory of Lady Thatcher should be expressed on this page. It is surely vital that those who are not old enough to remember her in office are not deluded into thinking that she was the paragon of virtue, or that every Telegraph reader admired her unreservedly.

David Taylor Lymington, Hampshire

SIR – I neither worship nor abhor the late Baroness. At 24 I don’t remember the Eighties. What’s so ridiculous about the people who have been dancing in the streets is that some of them are younger than me: ignorant and brainwashed brats who won’t remember the Thatcher era.

They call Margaret Thatcher an evil witch, but what’s truly evil is spouting such vile messages, online and out loud, throwing parties celebrating a death and then threatening to protest at a funeral. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but there’s no need to be spiteful. Or stupid.

From what I’ve read and have been told about Lady Thatcher it is clear that she knew what she wanted and did it, with the support of the electorate at the time.

History will look more kindly on this former prime minister than certain others. What about Tony Blair, who led us into an illegal war based on a lie? How will people react when he dies?

Emilie LamploughTrowbridge, Wiltshire

SIR – Who in 1979 could imagine political demonstrations where champagne was drunk by readers of the Socialist Worker?

Lionel H JuddWendover, Buckinghamshire

SIR – As a student in politics and international relations at what is now the University of the West of England, I demonstrated against the then secretary of state for education and science, Margaret Thatcher, on several occasions. In later years I never voted for her, and while I undoubtedly profited from some of her policies, I disagreed with many of them.

However, unlike Ashleigh Louise Field, the student who dressed as a “zombie” version of Lady Thatcher, my fellow students on the hard Left deployed rational argument rather than fancy dress to get their points across.

My student activism helped me secure my first job (with a Right-of-centre employers’ organisation). I suspect that Miss Field may have a harder time convincing employers she has benefited from her three years in higher education.

Robert HadfieldLondon SE17

SIR – The BBC is making itself look foolish. It censors Elvis Costello’s song Oliver’s Army because it contains the line “One less white nigger”, and yet cannot ban Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead, exulting in the death of an 87-year-old woman. I think I’d prefer the BBC to offend everyone all the time. At least that would be consistent.

Phil Saunders Bungay, Suffolk

SIR – Yip Harburg, who wrote the lyrics of Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead, was well-known for his Left-wing views. But he expressed them with understatement, not rancorous outpourings of hatred.

He also wrote the protest song about unemployment, Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? If the protesters knew the words to that one, and sang it, some of us might have a little more respect for them.

Eddie Lewisohn London N6

SIR – I remember, to my shame, how, as the young navigator of a destroyer, I danced above the graves of a U-boat’s crew when we finally heard their submarine breaking up far below us.

And I recall the looks of pity on the faces of my more humane elders.

Lt Cdr Tony Fletcher RN (retd) Beech Hill, Berkshire

SIR – I have always suspected, but now it has been confirmed, that the Labour Party is the party that fosters and preaches hatred. All of us have the right to disagree, but the vitriol that has come out of the mouths of several high-profile Labour MPs regarding the death of Margaret Thatcher is shameful beyond measure.

Philip Congdon La Bastide D’Engras, Gard, France

SIR – Amusing to see Glenda Jackson, sounding off about Mrs Thatcher’s being “a woman, not on my terms”. From an

ex-actress whose idea of female empowerment was running around starkers in Women in Love, that’s rich.

Nikki Willis London NW6

SIR – Of course Margaret Thatcher was a woman: she cleared up the mess left by others, multi-tasked, stood up to bullies and got the job done most of the time.

She also saw that war widows received a decent pension, ring-fenced to stop some councils reducing any benefits by the same amount.

I saw just what a difference that made to my mother and, despite my own redundancy because of policy changes, will always be thankful she did that.

Anne Hayward Stowmarket, Suffolk

SIR – If Margaret Thatcher really was so “divisive”, how come she won three elections in a row and remained prime minister for longer than anyone else in the modern era?

Peter Davies Moreton Pinkney, Northamptonshire

SIR – In the Eighties I was a member of Sogat, the print union. An obligation was placed on employees by the union to become a member.

I discovered that part of my union subscription went to the Labour Party. I did not support the Labour Party and inquired as to how I could reduce that portion of my subscription to the party. I was met with a barrage of verbal abuse just for asking.

Margaret Thatcher’s reforms enabled me to support the party of my choice.

David O’Callaghan Southport, Lancashire

SIR – My mother was a very devout Catholic who absolutely loved going to confession. Sadly she had an innocent life with little to confess, but used to say that she was so very grateful for Mrs Thatcher coming to power and giving her the opportunity for so many evil thoughts, often on a daily basis, that she was rarely away from the confessional during the whole Thatcher premiership.

John Grundy Ramsbottom, Lancashire

SIR – I am an American who was held in occupied Kuwait in August 1990. While the male leaders of the free world were wringing their hands, Margaret Thatcher stood up to Saddam Hussein and said: “You are hiding behind children and the skirts of women!”

Shamed, he allowed the women and children to be evacuated. It was an arduous journey. But we were free.

None of the other leaders was strong enough or quick enough on their feet to make such a declaration, not even our own President Bush. If it hadn’t been for Mrs Thatcher we would have languished in Kuwait. As each day passed, it had become more and more difficult for those of us in hiding. I am forever grateful to her.

Beth A Hanken Monticello, Iowa, United States

SIR – The late Sir Lionel Luckhoo, an ambassador to Britain from Guyana, rang me at the time of the Falklands war. He said: “I want to thank Britain for facing up to Argentinian aggression. If you had not done so, there are many other greedy neighbours who would have annexed territory while the world looked on.” It was not just the Falklands that was saved.

John Wright Kirby Bedon, Norfolk

SIR – Were it not for General Pinochet’s understated aid through the Falklands war, Lady Thatcher would not have paid him a visit during his house detention here many years later when both were out of power.

Roy Wavell Slough, Berkshire

SIR – Shelagh Wain (Letters, April 12) comments that Margaret Thatcher was the first British prime minister to have a science degree.

Does anyone know how, if at all, this influenced her political decisions? Apart from a lack of wind farms.